Chapter 4 - Painful memories

Painful memories



When they arrived back at the house, Kaede went straight upstairs, avoiding her grandmother's questions. At the top of the stairs she called down `I'm going to bed now, see you in the morning,' before running to her room and locking the door, not even bothering to turn on the light.

She leaned against the door, listening for her grandmother's footsteps, coming to check if she was all right. Hearing nothing, Kaede slumped on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking.

What the hell was that dream? Why was the girl in it almost am image of herself, and why was Kaiba there? Was it because she had been dancing with him?

Kaede sighed, and sat up. Wearily, she removed her elbow length gloves and removed the pins keeping her hair in place. She put her gloves in her chest of drawers, and then pulled her dress off over her head. She hung the dress up over the screen and climbed into her pyjamas. She looked at herself in the mirror as she passed, her long red hair now with a gentle wave in it from being curled so tightly before. Her tanned skin was even darker than usual in the dark, and her eyes looked dark and mysterious in the gloom. She closed her eyes tight and imagined as hard as she could, and when she opened her eyes, she stood with four other people. Two stood behind her, one a woman, the other a man. The woman had long red hair, just like hers, and the shape of her face and figure was the same. The man had short black hair, and was tall and thin, with beautiful green eyes. They both beamed down at her through the mirror, and had their hands on her shoulders.

On her left was a little boy, with short dark hair, just like the man, but with darker skin and eyes. He took hold of her hand and squeezed it.

And to her right was a girl, identical to her in every way. This girl hoped her arm through Kaede's and smiled at her, a smile that seemed to light up the whole room with radiance and light.

Kaede looked at her family for a few seconds, but was overcome with sadness and closed her eyes. She looked back into the mirror, and saw herself alone. She turned away, and lay down on her bed.

Taking one of the pillows from under her head, she hugged it close to her, and let go of all her emotions. From her eyes came floods of tears, rolling down her cheek as she curled up into a ball, still hugging the pillow for comfort. She reached over to her bedside table where a large scrapbook lay. This she picked up and, turning on the small light on the table, opened.

Every page was dominated b a picture of her family and her, all beaming and making peace signs with their fingers. She stopped on one page where the picture was of her and her twin sister, standing in front of the great pyramid, with their arms around each other. Written beneath were the words “Lara and I, at the Great Pyramid, where mum and dad were working on an archaeological dig.” Beneath this were the words:



I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me



Reading these words brought fresh tears to her eyes, and she closed the book quickly, pushing it beneath her pillow, and hugged the pillow even tighter to her chest.

She cried herself to sleep that night. She lay, sound asleep, when her grandmother unlocked the door to her room with the spare key they kept for emergencies, and came in. The old woman sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Kaede's hair, brushing it away from her face. She whipped away her tears and pulled the covers up to her chin.

`Goodnight, my sweet Kaede,' she said, kissing her forehead. She turned and left, shutting the door behind her. She walked along the corridor to her and her husband's bedroom, and climbed into bed beside him. Before she turned off the light she looked at the picture frame on the table next to her, and picked it up. It was a picture of her son and his wife, and their three beautiful children, Kaede, Lara and Hitomi. Kaede sat middle, her arms around her siblings, smiling at the camera, unaware that only a few days after this picture was taken, the people surrounding her would be sent to an early grave.



***



As Kaede slept, she dreamed of a time long ago, in the land she used to call home. The land of Egypt.

She dreamt of a large room, filled with ornate vases and hangings, with a pillar in the centre covered in hieroglyphics. There was a large bed in the corner of the rooms, an ancient four-poster with long white drapes, hiding the sleeping figure inside.

Next to this bed was a seat, where sat a young man, his chin resting on his hands, staring at the bed in a lazy manor. Bored with this, he got up and walked over to the other side of the room, where there was a table upon which stood a bowl full of water and two goblets, one silver, one gold. The man took the gold goblet and filled it from the bowl, and took a small sip of the clear water inside it.

From the bed came a little moan. The man quickly rushed to the bed and drew back the hangings. There lay the slave girl he had saved only hours before, her wounds cleaned and bandaged, her face washed and her hair brushed. She stirred, her hand that lay resting on the pillow closed around the white sheets.

Her eyes opened and she stared up into his face. Sat down on the bed next to her and held out the goblet of water. She raised her hand to take the goblet but her fingers couldn't grasp it. He lifted her head and brought the goblet to her lips, tilting it so the liquid tipped into her mouth.

After she had drunk enough, she leaned away and raised herself up so she was leaning against the pillow, almost sitting up straight. She looked around her, then down at the white linen wrapped around her wrists.

`When-' she began.

`I took the liberty whilst you were sleeping,' He said gently, placing the golden goblet on the floor beside the bed and looking down at her.

`Where am I?' She asked, staring around the room. She turned back to him and her eyes suddenly filled with fear. `Who are you? Why have you brought me here?'

He just smiled. `Don't you remember?' She shook her head and he laughed a little. `My name is Priest Seto. I am the high priest for Pharaoh Atem. And, if I am not mistaken, your name is Hebeny, is that right?'

`Yes, it is. Well, that's what I was called by my first master, and after that, that is just what people called me.' Hebeny looked down at her hands, saddened by this.

`Don't you know your real name?' Priest Seto asked.

`No, my mother dies in childbirth, and she wasn't married to my father. She was….' Her voice trailed off, and Seto looked away uncomfortably.

`She was a prostitute?' He asked quietly, as if then it wouldn't hurt so much for her to hear.

`Yes, that's what they told me.'

`Who are they?'

`The people who raised me. I don't remember them very well, but I know they aren't really people of importance. Just thieves and criminals,' Hebeny looked at him and smiled. `They stole for themselves and only themselves. They stole for me when I could not, but when I grew up a little bit and refused to steal, they tried to find something for me to do instead. They made me dance in the street for money, but that turned out to be more trouble for them, so they sold me.' Hebeny looked away again.

`How old were you?' Seto asked, taking hold of one of her bandaged hands and holding it in his own, as if to keep it safe from harm.

`Six years old,' Hebeny whispered softly. Seto held her hand tighter, tears forming in his eyes. `I guess they thought that any time before that and I wouldn't be much use to my master, but at six they could get a reasonable price for me and I would be a good servant to whoever bought me.'

`And they sold you to the person who called you Hebeny?'

`Yes, he was a nice man, who owned his own farm and had all these wonderful animals. He told me he would look after me and maybe even adopt me, if I was good and did as I was told. He didn't have any children, his wife died a long time ago and he couldn't bear to remarry and forget her. So he wanted to adopt a little girl who looked just like her. He said I did, because of my long ebony hair. He called me Hebeny because of my hair.' She smiled again, but not to Seto. She smiled to herself, remembering. `He was so nice to me. I stayed with him until I was eleven, and then it all started going wrong.

`One day, I was outside in the field tending to the sheep, when one of his labourers came up to me and started talking. He was only a couple of years older than me, and I had become quite good friends with him, and believed I could trust him. We were just talking and laughing together when suddenly he changed, and stopped laughing. Suddenly, he had pushed me to the ground and forced himself on top of me, and started tearing at my clothes, ripping them and kissing my bear skin. I hit and kicked him, but he was too strong. Then I kicked him right between the legs and he curled up in pain, falling off me. I got up and ran away from him, holding my clothes around me tightly.

`I ran back to my master and he took me in his arms, hugging me, cradling me as I cried onto his shoulder. He patted my hair and said that he would go and sort everything out. He left me alone there, but when he came back he was shaking his head, and looked very sad.

`He asked me why I had lied to him. I said that I hadn't lied, I told him the truth. He said that the other labourers had seen me with that boy, laughing and giggling with him suggestively. He said they told him that they saw us go off together into the wheat field, where the tall plants hid us from view.

`I told him that they had lied, and I never did anything like that. But he wouldn't listen. He got angry with me, and slapped me, calling me a hussy. He threw me to the ground and made on of his other slaves get me into some new clothes. He drove me to the market that very same day, and sold me to somebody else. I begged him to believe me, told him I would never do that ever, because I wasn't like that. But he wouldn't listen. He sold me then got back on his cart and drove away, leaving me crying and calling after him, only to be dragged away to some strangers house, where my nightmares began.

`Since then, I haven't been owned for over a year, because they made me dance for them, and then they begun to get lustful, and tried to make me lie with them. Whenever I fight back, they take me to the market and sell me on, to another lonely man, to face even more demons.'

Hebeny looked back at Seto and saw that he has two tear lines down his face. She smiled at him, and place her free hand his hands that held her's. He was trembling, but when she took hold of both her hands in his, he looked up and smiled at her, a sad, sympathetic smile, that said to her that her was truly sorry for what had happened to her.

`I'm sorry,' he said, pulling one of his hands away and whipping his tears away. `I just can't stand to see or hear or people suffering. That's why I asked Pharaoh if I could take care of you. That's why I saved you from the crowds at the market. That's why-'

`Wait, that was you?' Hebeny stared at him, amazed. `Why did you do that, for a low insignificant slave girl like me?'

Seto smiled at her through his tears. `Because I didn't like watching you being tormented by those people. I didn't like to see you in pain.'

Hebeny looked amazed at him, then her confusion turned to delight and she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. `Thank you so much for everything you have done for me. I will never be able to repay you.' She let her arms fall to her sides and beamed at him.

`It wasn't just me,' Seto started explaining hurriedly, embarrassed by this, but then he heard a cough behind him and turned around. There were two girls standing side-by-side near the door. One had long dark hair, and looked like the older of the two. The other was blond and clearly younger. But whereas the dark hears one's face seemed quite unaffected by Hebeny, the blond one smiled and waved at her.

`Hello. My name's Sanura, it means kitten.' She ran up and jumped on the bed, narrowly avoiding crushing Hebeny's already injured legs. `What's your name? Seto said it was Hebeny, which he said means Ebony. Is that really your name? Is it? It's a very nice name, but I think that Sanura sounds better, don't you? How old are you anyway. You can't be much older than me, and I've fourteen years old. So, how old are you?' She leaned forward, as if expecting an answer. Hebeny stared at this girl, then looked at Seto to ask for help. Seto laughed loudly at this girl.

`Hebeny, this is Sanura. Don't worry, she doesn't always speak that fast, she's just excited. Yes, Sanura, this is Hebeny. I think she's your age. How old are you, Hebeny?'

`I think I am 14, I don't really know. I stopped working it out after my first master sold me. It seemed pointless to me then. But, I guess three years have gone by, so yes, I think that's right.' Hebeny smiled at Sanura, who beamed back, utterly delighted.

`Ha ha ha, oh, and this is Isis,' Seto indicated the girl with the black hair, who now stood right behind him. `She is one of the priestesses, and helps me, er, take care of Sanura.'

Isis smiled at Hebeny warmly, not as broadly as Sanura did, but still, it was a friendly smile. Hebeny smiled back, and then turned back to Sanura, who was tugging at her bandages, asking her why she had bandages on her wrists.

`Aww, Seto, I want bandages on my wrists. They look so cool, please Seto, please?' Sanura begged.

Hebeny looked at the three of them, all crowded around her, so warm and loving. She smiled and lay back against the pillows. She seemed to have finally found somewhere she belonged.

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